by Joe Reedy, USA TODAY Sports

by Joe Reedy, USA TODAY Sports

"This is a long â?¦ season. This is a grind. And you can't give up the ball, you can't miss tackles, you can't step out of bounds, you can't have penalties, you can't field punts on the 1-yard line. Some of you wonder why you don't play and start: Because you won't tackle on an interception. Because you don't know who to block. So you'd better make up your mind what you are going to do. It is your football team, find a way to fix it ! Reach down inside and be a â?¦ pro!"

Four years later, Marvin Lewis is still drawing comments about the locker room speech he made four years ago because it was one of the highlights of Hard Knocks: Training Camp, where nothing is off limits. What normally would not air on television is seen by all.

In looking back on those comments last week, Lewis said that if he took the time to think about it, he probably would have held off giving that speech. However, when it is something that happens in the heat of the moment, it makes for great television. That's the allure of the series.

After a successful run four years ago, the Bengals are the featured team again. The NFL Films crew started setting up at Paul Brown Stadium last week and has already done some filming of feature material that might be used in introducing certain players over the five weeks the series airs.

Players report to camp Wednesday and the first 10-11 days will be used for the first episode, which will air on HBO on Aug. 6 at 10 p.m.

The Bengals' first appearance was widely praised. Fans got an up-close view and the franchise got national recognition. NFL Films saw the experience as a reboot of the series because of the storylines and personalities that ended up developing.

It also proved that the series isn't the reason why teams don't make the playoffs. The Bengals are the only team in the seven seasons the series has been done to win their division, but two of the last three seasons the series has occurred, the featured team has made the playoffs. In 2010, the Jets ended up advancing to the AFC championship game.

Even though a year ago Lewis sounded like he wouldn't consider a return appearance, it is the response from fans that made Lewis and Mike Brown think it would be good again.

Another reason why Lewis might have been more receptive is the why Baltimore did it in 2001 â?? it energizes practices and makes roster battles more competitive. Lewis was the defensive coordinator when the series debuted.

At that time, though, the Ravens were defending Super Bowl champions and used to the national limelight. Even though the Bengals have made two straight playoff appearances, they are still a young team that hasn't attracted a steady presence of national media.

"If you are hiding in the shadows and not thinking as champions, you are never going to be one," said Fox Sports and NFL Network analyst Brian Billick, who was the Ravens' head coach when Hard Knocks debuted. "If you are going to be that good, you are going to have more of a national presence. As the season goes on there are some teams that end up being a surprise, and those teams don't know how to deal with the increased attention.

"You have to get the right balance and you might as well set it from the start."

Coaches and players are used to NFL Films crews being around. After games, it is not uncommon for a crew to record postgame speeches, and players and coaches are used to being mic'd up for sound during games. It's different, though, when there are five camera crews and eight robotic cameras set up in different offices over six weeks instead of just one crew for a three-hour game.

"I think NFL Films has earned the trust of most of the organizations around the league. They know we're not trying to do anything salacious. We're trying to show how hard training camp really is," NFL Films Senior Coordinator Producer Ross Ketover said.

Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson were featured prominently four years ago but Chris Pressley also got plenty of screen time in the last two episodes as some of the players on the roster bubble came to the forefront.

The hardest part of the series is watching players get released. Jim Lippincott's 5 a.m. wakeup call of J.D. Runnels brought plenty of discussion from fans because of how early it was, but Lewis said that is a matter of life. There is no easy time to release a player but they also don't want to embarrass them by doing it in front of everyone.

"Everyone thinks being an NFL player is the greatest job in the world, but they don't realize how hard it is and that 30 percent of the work force gets released each year, which is uncommon for anything other than sports," Ketover said, "It shows what a difficult process it is for players and how it humanizes players."

Lewis already has addressed the series with the coaches and will do so with the players during the first meeting on Wednesday. There has been plenty of roster turnover the past four years but 13 players who were here for training camp are still on the roster. Terence Newman, Adam "Pacman" Jones and John Conner also have been on the series when it featured the Cowboys and Jets.

"We've got one goal, which is to be world champions," Lewis said. "We can't talk about it, now it's time to do the work. It's got nothing to do about what the people from NFL Films are doing; it's what we are doing. They are going to try and capture that the best that they can. We can't worry about that.

"We've got some things internally that are important to us as a team. We have to go back to those things and stand on those same principles. It is time to shut your mouth and go back to work."